


Assistance

by ive_been_losing_sleep



Series: Quiet Crow and Companions [4]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Birthdays, Dog - Freeform, Dogs, Fire Alarms, Hard of Hearing!Hinata, Hearing aids, I'm really excited about this dog, M/M, baby hina, did i mention THAT THERE'S A DOG, hard of hearing character, loveeeee, there's a dog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-08
Updated: 2016-03-08
Packaged: 2018-05-25 14:45:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6199102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ive_been_losing_sleep/pseuds/ive_been_losing_sleep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Koutarou, what the hell is that? And what is it doing in my kitchen?”</p>
<p>Bokuto looks at the small puppy pattering around the tile nonchalantly, as if him randomly bringing home a dog while his husband was dropping off their son at daycare is completely acceptable. </p>
<p>In Bokuto’s brain it probably is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Assistance

**Author's Note:**

> Just a reminder that italicized dialogue is signing!! And regular is vocal! Also, Akaashi and Bokuto do talk out loud while they sign, because they're helping Shouyou learn oral english

Bokuto’s alarm clock is oddly persistent this morning. 

He’s already slapped the top of the clock a good ten times, but the insistent blaring refuses to quiet. Not only is it not shutting off, but the sound of it is a little higher pitched, a series long screeches rather than the usual short beeps that wake him up in the morning. 

Rubbing his eyes and sitting up slowly, Bokuto casts a bleary glance towards the red numbers on the clock. 

Why the hell was his alarm going off at 1:42 in the fucking morning?

As the heavy arms of sleep start to recede from his brain, Bokuto begins to notice more things. Like the bright, flashing light near the corner of the ceiling, and the fact that the noise isn’t coming from his alarm clock and seems to be echoing throughout the entire building. And finally, he realizes that it’s not his alarm clock that he’s hearing. 

It’s the fire alarm. 

A foot suddenly stabs him in the side, and Bokuto whips around to find Akaashi already scrambling out of bed, casting a hurried look in Bokuto’s direction to make sure his husband is awake. Bokuto lurches after him, socked feet slipping and sliding across the floor in his haste. 

“I’ve got Shouyou,” Akaashi says. His voice is calm and collected, a sharp contrast to the panic crawling up Bokuto’s spine as he jerks his head in response.

The fire alarm is just as thundering in Shouyou’s room as it was in theirs, but their son still sleeps peacefully in his bed. He’s curled around his stuffed owl, one hand fisting its wing tightly and the fingers on his free hand tapping against its head gently, as if he’s talking in his sleep. He’s blissfully ignorant of the stubborn warning resounding around his room, because to him, the world is just as silent as it usually is. 

The panic is threatening to consume Bokuto, dwelling in the deepest corners of his mind and halting his movement. This is the first time he’s considered that Shouyou’s deafness could be considered an actual problem, something that could harm him later in life. The fact that his son could be unaware of a fire raging in his home is enough to freeze Bokuto’s every move, and he stands in the doorway to Shouyou’s room, unable to take even a single step. 

Akaashi, however, hasn’t been dominated by the same horror. With easy steps, he lifts Shouyou from his bed and hikes him high against his chest. When he turns back around, Bokuto’s face is pale, and his fisted hands shake at his sides. Akaashi balances a still sleeping Shouyou on one hand, and uses his other to touch his husband on the shoulder gently. “We’re all okay, Koutarou,” he reminds him, because he can see the panic poisoning his husband. “But we need to go.”

Bokuto takes one last look at Shouyou before forcing the horror out of his mind. He shoves it as far back as he can, and decides that he’ll deal with it when they’re all safely out of the building. 

Grabbing Akaashi’s hand, he yanks his husband and son out of their apartment and leads them towards the staircase with long, hurried strides. There’s no smoke filling the hallway and no heat rolling over his skin, but the fire alarms are insistent in their warnings. Other residents of their floor are crowding around them, pushing against the family in their own haste to get to safety, but Bokuto never lets go of Akaashi’s hand. Akaashi responds by gripping his husband’s hand just as tightly. 

“Keiji,” Bokuto whines as they wind down the staircase. “Whose idea was it to live on the twelfth floor?”

“Yours,” Akaashi responds bluntly. He rolls his eyes in Bokuto’s direction, but quickly returns them back to Shouyou. The jostling from being carried down the stairs is starting to wake him up, and he sleepily nuzzles his cheek against Akaashi’s neck. 

“Nope. This was not my idea. Never,” Bokuto disagrees, but he’s laughing loudly as he says it. Despite the blatant fear evidently possessing Bokuto earlier, he’s already managed to shake it off for the time-being. Even after eight years of being together, his husband’s ability to bounce between emotions has always been something that’s astounded Akaashi, and he’s glad to see that the terror has been replaced by his usual confidence.

Outside, they’re greeted by a small group of firefighters, instructing the people rushing out of the building to stay calm. They tell them that the fire isn’t large and is isolated in a single apartment, but they’re continuing the evacuation just to be safe. One of them approaches Bokuto and Akaashi, asking if they are all okay and paying special attention to the sleeping toddler in Akaashi’s arms.

After ensuring they are okay, the firefighter laughs. “Your kid must be a real heavy sleeper. Most of these kids are crying, and yours is just napping away, straight through the alarm.”

Bokuto grins, and softly ruffles Shouyou’s hair. “He must get it from me.” He tries to ignore the worry that’s reappeared at the firefighter’s words. 

The firefighter laughs again and moves on to another family. Akaashi looks at Bokuto, analyzing his tensed shoulders, his forced smile, and his fisted hands. 

“Koutarou.” When Bokuto looks up, Akaashi shoves Shouyou into his husband’s arms. Bokuto presses a gentle kiss against the top of his son’s head, and buries his nose in the soft, orange locks. His knuckles are white from where his hands are desperately fisted into Shouyou’s pajama top, so Akaashi threads his own fingers between Bokuto’s, unwinding them from their tight grip. “Koutarou,” he repeats, and squeezes his husband’s hand, “we’re all safe. The fire’s small, and they have it under control. Everything’s alright.”

Bokuto nods, and his grip loses its desperation. “He couldn’t hear the alarm,” he murmurs softly, and when Akaashi looks into his eyes, they’re glazed with unadulterated worry. Shouyou stirs against Bokuto’s chest, and Bokuto bounces him softly in his arms, staring at him with parental anxiety, the kind that makes you panic when even the smallest of things threaten to take your child away from you. “We were here this time, and the fire was small. But what happens if he’s living alone, and this happens again? And what if the fire isn’t so small the next time, Keiji? He-”

Akaashi tugs gently on his husband’s hand. “Plenty of deaf people live alone. Shouyou’s going to be alright.”

“But they have hearing aids! Or those implant things! They don’t live in complete silence like he does.” Bokuto’s voice is growing louder, and Akaashi’s glad that the other residents standing on the apartment’s front lawn are too absorbed in their own drama to pay attention to theirs. He’s never liked being the center of attention, and the curious eyes of other people are the last thing he wants right now. 

“I’m not going to make Shouyou wear hearing aids if he doesn’t want to,” Akaashi hisses. It was only a couple months ago that the doctor had cleared their son for hearing aids, and Shouyou was able to hear the world around him. He was amazed at first, listening to his parents’ voices for the first time in the small, quiet room at the hospital. But, when they left the hospital and were surrounded by traffic, shouting, and music, the new sounds became overwhelming to a child who has lived without them for close to his entire life. Even their apartment was invaded by the staggering street noise, and Shouyou decided that he didn’t like all the noise and chaos that had ruined the peace he was used to. He rarely wears them, usually only for speech therapy sessions and when his hearing is a real necessity. But, since he can manage fine without his hearing, the hearing aids are usually sitting untouched on a shelf in his room. 

Because Bokuto knows of his son’s dislike for the hearing aids, he deflates. “I know,” he murmurs. “I won’t make him either, if he doesn’t want to. I just want him to be safe.” 

“I do, too. We’ll figure it out, Koutarou. Maybe he’ll change his mind and wear them in the future. Or maybe there’s another solution we can look into. But it’s not something we need to worry about for a while.”

Bokuto nods and leans against Akaashi’s shoulder, squishing Shouyou between them and effectively waking him up. While their son yawns loudly, Bokuto finally allows a smile to appear on his face and, while it’s still small, it’s bright with the same life that he usually holds himself with. “You’re right. We don’t need to worry about it. Especially because I don’t plan on him ever moving out.”

Akaashi chuckles, and signs a small, “ _Good Morning_ ,” to Shouyou while vocally telling his husband, “Just wait until he’s a teenager. Then you’ll want to kick him out.”

Shouyou rubs his eyes sleepily and looks around in confusion. “ _Why are we outside?_ ” 

Bokuto sets Shouyou down on the ground, and Akaashi crouches down to explain to Shouyou how there was a small emergency, and how everyone had to safely leave the building. He told him that everyone was alright, and the nice firefighters are just making sure it’s safe to go back inside. Akaashi also might’ve exaggerated it a little bit to make the firefighters sound like superheroes, but that was honestly the best way to keep a toddler’s attention

While Shouyou listens attentively, Bokuto looks over the other people in front of the building. Shouyou’s babysitter, Yachi, is standing with the receptionist from Akaashi’s office, leaning into her chest and tightly clasping her hand in hers. There’s a couple talking with some firefighters, one with brunette, pretty-boy hair and the other blonde with two black stripes streaked across his hair. Bokuto can’t see their faces from where he’s standing, but he can hear the brunette politely apologizing to the fire fighter, because apparently his boyfriend didn’t realize that leaving the toaster oven on after making mozzarella sticks could potentially lead to a fire. The blonde snaps something back, but his boyfriend just shoves his head down in a forced posture of apology. 

Bokuto spots Suga, Daichi and Tobio at the far side of the lawn. Tobio’s yanking on Suga’s pajama bottoms relentlessly, mouth moving quickly as he speaks. Daichi has his hand resting on Tobio’s head to placate him, and both parents are looking around the crowd. 

When Suga’s eyes find Bokuto, he says something to Daichi while spinning Tobio in their general direction. Immediately, Tobio surges forward, calling Shouyou’s name as he catapults across the grass. 

Akaashi barely has enough time to lean back and avoid being knocked over, because Tobio rams into Shouyou in an instant, sending both of them rolling across the grass. Shouyou squeals in surprise, but easily reciprocates the hug he’s engulfed in, laughing on the ground wrapped around his friend. “Tobio!” he cheers loudly, and Tobio smiles, proud that his name is one of the few things Shouyou says out loud with confidence. 

Akaashi stands up, greeting Suga with a quiet smile as he and Daichi approach with a eagerness much gentler than Tobio’s. “He was really worried when he didn’t see Shouyou,” Daichi laughs, watching his son clumsily sign to Akaashi’s son. For the few months he’s known the other boy, Tobio’s been obsessed with the ‘secret hand language,’ pouring everything into learning it and becoming increasingly frustrated when it didn’t stick with him as quickly as he wanted it to. 

Tobio pauses suddenly in his signing and turns to Akaashi. “Mr. Akaashi, how do I say ‘find’?” he asks politely. Shouyou watches his mouth as he speaks with furrowed eyebrows, unsuccessfully hoping to read Tobio’s lips. 

Akaashi shows Tobio the sign, pinching his thumb and pointer finger together as he lifts his hand. Tobio nods, then says to Shouyou, “ _You have to find me next time!_ ” 

Shouyou apologizes through his laughter, and Suga snorts from beside Akaashi. Leaning into Akaashi’s ear, he whispers, “I really hope they’ll be gay for each other when they grow up.”

He must not have said it quietly enough, because Daichi chokes on his own saliva, and Bokuto doubles over in laughter. Akaashi snickers softly. “Sorry, Suga, but what are the odds of that happening?”

Suga sighs. “Not high enough.”

 

The firetrucks clear out of the parking lot an hour later, and the apartment is flooded by residents returning to their homes. Bokuto, Akaashi and Shouyou say good-bye to Tobio’s family in the lobby, deciding to use the near-empty stairs rather than wait their turn for an elevator with most of the others. 

Shouyou hops up the stairs between his parents, hands clasped tightly with each of theirs. Every few steps, Bokuto would raise his eyebrows at Akaashi, and they would both lift Shouyou by his arms and swing him through the air, their son giggling and squealing the entire time his feet are off the ground. When Shouyou’s laughter is interrupted by a loud yawn, Bokuto grabs him by his armpits and lifts him onto Akaashi’s shoulders. Shouyou wiggles happily and presses his thumb against his temple, flicking down his raised pointer and middle finger while his ring and pinky fingers remain pressed to his palm. 

“ _Horse_!” 

Bokuto laughs, repeating Shouyou’s sign so Akaashi can see it. Akaashi snorts and shakes his head, but he adds a little extra bounce in his step when Shouyou kicks his heels against his chest. Shouyou giggles, grabbing Akaashi’s hair when he teeters dangerously. Akaashi yelps at the tugging and raises his hand over his head to steady his son. He pulls Shouyou’s fingers from his hair and threads them through his own, grabbing Bokuto’s hand with his free one at the same time. 

The rest of the walk to their apartment is like that. Bokuto swings Akaashi’s hand enthusiastically, and Shouyou blows air out from between his lips like a horse. Akaashi just rolls his eyes and pretends that he’s indifferent to their excitement. “I swear, I’m raising two children.”

At their apartment, Bokuto swings the door open with a flourish, bowing at the waist and holding one hand towards the entrance. Standing, he signs while speaking loudly, “ _May I present Prince Shouyou and his handsome steed._ ” 

“Shhh,” Akaashi reprimands, but he still leans into the kiss on the cheek that Bokuto gives him. “It’s 3 a.m., Koutarou. You need to be quieter.”

Bokuto pouts, pointedly ignoring Akaashi as he reaches to take Shouyou from his husband’s shoulders. “Your father’s being mean to me, Shouyou,” he says, but he doesn’t sign it, so Shouyou just frowns and tugs on Bokuto’s cheeks with his fingers. 

Akaashi doesn’t bother with a response, pushing past Bokuto into their kitchen. Yawning, he reaches for a glass and starts to fill it with water, but he’s interrupted by a sharp tug on his pajama bottoms. 

Shouyou, who must have somehow escaped Bokuto’s arms, looks up at Akaashi with bright eyes and an eager smile. “ _Milk_ ,” he signs with one hand, still tugging on Akaashi’s pants with the other. 

“ _Is that how you ask for something?_ ”

Shouyou pouts, but tries again. “ _Dad, can I please have some milk_?” 

“ _Well, since you asked so nicely_.” Akaashi grabs a sippy cup from the cabinet, filling it with milk after his own glass is filled with water. He hands it to his toddler, and Shouyou grins happily, thanking Akaashi with one hand while he sips his milk. 

Akaashi kneels down next to Shouyou, and his son pulls the cup away from his mouth in confusion. “ _Try saying it out loud_ ,” Akaashi instructs him with gentle hand movements and an encouraging smile on his face. 

Shouyou frowns and shakes his head. “ _No. I sound funny_.”

“I don’t think you sound funny. I love your voice.” Shouyou shakes his head again, but it’s not as adamant as the first time, so Akaashi continues. “ _Please, baby?_ ”

Shouyou’s head tilts to the ground, his eyes looking up at Akaashi through his lashes. His mouth starts to move without sound, practicing the shapes to make the noises to guarantee that he gets them right. It’s always a little harder for him to try without the hearing aids, but he’s determined to speak orally, wanting to learn a language to talk to his parents and Tobio in the same way they learned one just to talk to him. Sometimes, though, he gets discouraged by the sound of his own clumsy words, so Akaashi has to push him a little bit. 

“Th-thank you, dad.” It’s a little loud, and his voice sounds a little like there’s cotton in his mouth, but Akaashi’s chest still swells with pride. Because he’s trying so hard, and even if he’s hesitant, he still gives it his best shot. So he smiles and kisses his son on his forehead. 

When Shouyou looks back up, he must see the delight on his father’s face because he breaks into a large grin. “ _That was perfect, Shouyou._ ” And the gleam in his son’s eyes is enough for Akaashi to pull him into a giant hug. 

After lots of kisses from Akaashi and giggling from Shouyou, Akaashi stands to lead him to back to his bedroom. As he passes through the living room, he finds Bokuto sitting on their couch, laptop resting on his lap and a warm blanket draped over his shoulders. 

“Koutarou?” Akaashi calls softly as Shouyou turns his head and wanders away, distracted by something on their balcony. “What are you doing? You have work in a couple hours, go to bed.”

“Keiji,” Bokuto groans and lets his head fall against his chest in exasperation. “I’m doing very important research.”

Akaashi is about to comment about what kind of ‘important research’ Bokuto could possibly be doing, but he’s cut off by a sudden shout of “Bird!”

He turns, surprised by Shouyou’s voice, and finds his son pressing his face against the sliding glass door leading to the balcony. Sure enough, there’s a large black bird perched on the balcony railing, ebony feathers nearly disappearing in the dark of the night. With his cheek still smushed against the glass, Shouyou asks, “ _What bird is that?_ ”

Akaashi moves to stand next to Shouyou, taking a closer look at the bird in front of him. Over his shoulder, he asks Bokuto, “Can you look up what the sign for crow is?”

“I’m doing important research, Keiji!” But Akaashi still hears his fingers type against the keyboard as he plugs the search into google.“There is none. Gonna have to spell it out.”

Shouyou glances at Akaashi from the corner of his eye as he spells it out for him. Then, Shouyou mimics the letters before saying, “ _It’s cooler than owls!_ ”

Akaashi’s glad Bokuto didn’t see that. He’d be distraught to find out that his son no longer shared his obsession with owls. 

Remembering something Bokuto told him once, he tells Shouyou, “ _Some crows can be taught to speak like humans._ ”

Shouyou’s jaw falls open, and his eyes are suddenly filled with stardust. He spins, staring at Akaashi with amazement. “ _Like me!_ ” Akaashi nods, ruffling his son’s hair, and Shouyou casts one last look at the bird over his shoulder. “ _Really, really cooler than owls._ ”

Bokuto would’ve fainted. 

 

“Koutarou, what the hell is that? And what is it doing in my kitchen?”

Bokuto looks at the small puppy pattering around the tile nonchalantly, as if him randomly bringing home a dog while his husband was dropping off their son at daycare is completely acceptable. 

In Bokuto’s brain it probably is. 

“It’s a dog.” 

“Yes, Koutarou, I think I understand that part. But why is it _here?_ ”

“She’s Shouyou’s service dog!” Bokuto leans down, grabbing the small dog around its middle and hefting her into the air. “Look how cute she is.”

The puppy’s body is mostly black with dark gray mottling, and a white stripe stretches from her chest down to her belly and wraps around her fluffy neck. Her right eye is a dark amber color and is circled by the same black and gray pattern, but the other eye is blue and surrounded by white. Small, light gray spots are sprinkled over the top of the white fur on her muzzle, giving the appearance of tiny freckles. Two large, black ears sit pointed on top of her head, one of them sporadically flopping over before straightening again, as if takes a lot of effort to keep it upright. A long, furry tail falls between her hind legs, sweeping back and forth in quiet content. 

It’s obvious that she’ll grow to be larger than she is now. Her paws are too big to fit her body, and her ears are half the size of her head. There’s a black and orange bandana tied around her neck, almost buried in the fluffy fur along her chest. 

Bokuto knows Akaashi isn’t as indifferent as many people take him to be, so he’s positive that his husband finds the puppy just as adorable as Bokuto does. 

Instead of commenting on the puppy’s appearance (further proving Bokuto’s point that he does find her cute), Akaashi asks, “When did we decide to get Shouyou a service dog?”

“Last week,” Bokuto answers easily, crouching to set the dog back onto the kitchen floor. “During the fire drill, you said we can look into other options.” Then, he gestures towards the dog zealously. “This is our other option.”

Akaashi’s eyes narrow, but he spares the dog another look, She’s snooping through their kitchen, nose pressed to the ground and tail wagging happily. Every few steps, she trips over her own paws and face plants against the tile before squirming back up to once again stand on all fours. Akaashi raises a skeptical eyebrow. “She’s a service dog?”

“She’s in training, Keiji,” Bokuto groans, deflating exasperatedly. “She’s still got a couple months to go, but I have her reserved just for us as soon as she graduates.”

“Where did you even find her?” 

Bokuto’s shoulders straightens, and his chest swells with pride. “I contacted Dr. Iwaizumi about what we could do to help Shouyou, and he referred me to a friend of his, Kentarou Kyoutani, who trains service dogs. So I went and visited his office, but he wasn’t there so I talked to his boyfriend who showed me the dogs they’re training right now and _ta da._ ” He gestures to the puppy again, this time throwing in some additional jazz hands. 

Akaashi still doesn’t look convinced, so Bokuto continues desperately. “She can really help him out, Keiji. She’s gonna be trained to respond to all sorts of sounds. Alarm clocks, doorbells, people calling Shouyou’s name, _fire alarms_. We can’t be with him every second of his life, Keiji, but she _can_.”

Akaashi watches the puppy, now curled up on the floor, tail draped over her paws and nose resting on her back legs. As if sensing Akaashi’s look, she raises her head to stare back, heterochromatic eyes unblinking and ears standing attentively on top of her head. Despite her puppy fuzz and dopey paws, she suddenly appears vigilant, confident in her ability to protect the person she’s assigned to. 

“Okay.”

Bokuto, who had just been about to drop onto his knees and beg, lunges at Akaashi, wrapping his arms around his husband and pulling him forward for a kiss. The puppy barks happily and rolls onto her back, adding her own voice to the excitement. Bokuto finally pulls away, breathless and grinning broadly. “I thought you were going to say no.”

“Why would I?” Akaashi leans into his husband a little more. “It sounds like she’d be good for Shouyou. This was a good idea, Koutarou.”

Bokuto’s smile widens, but it disappears after Akaashi continues. “I guess even you have good ideas sometimes.”

“Hey!”

 

They wait until Shouyou’s birthday to introduce him to the service dog. It’s two months after Bokuto first presented her to Akaashi, and the dog is only a week from her final test to graduate to an official service dog. She has grown considerably, her paws proportionate to her body and lean muscle filling out her soft edges, but she is still small enough to sit patiently in the unsealed cardboard box Akaashi and Bokuto are hiding her in. 

Their apartment is filled with close family friends, and Shouyou darts around the apartment happily, unaware of the present sitting in the corner of the living room with all of the other gifts. He bounces between guests energetically with a bright blue party hat strapped over his head, saying hello to everyone and thanking them for coming. He’s four now and insists that he’s old enough to be included in the adult conversations, but he keeps returning to Tobio, despite him being ‘too old to hang out with little kids.’

His hearing aids are hooked around the back of his ears, bright orange cases almost blending in with the bright shade of his hair. He’s slowly becoming more accustomed to the noises surrounding him, but Akaashi still notices him fiddling with it anxiously every now and then, when everything becomes a little too much to handle. So, about once every thirty minutes, Akaashi helps Shouyou turn it off for short amounts of time, giving him little breaks between the chaos. 

Towards the end of the night, after Bokuto and Kuroo are stuffed full with cake and close to passing out on the couch, they move onto presents. Everyone sits in the living room as Akaashi and Suga put the gifts onto the coffee table in front of Shouyou, who bounces in his seat eagerly. Tobio sits on the couch next to him, watching jealously as each brightly colored box is presented, while Daichi waits for Suga on the adjacent love seat. Kuroo is stretched across the floor at his feet, one arm draped over Kenma’s shoulder next to him, and Asahi stands behind the couch, one hand clamped on Nishinoya’s shoulder to balance him in his position on the back of the couch. 

When all of the gifts (aside from the unwrapped box in the corner) is set onto the table, Akaashi falls back onto the couch between his husband and son while Suga joins Daichi on the love seat. Immediately, Shouyou lurches forward, fingers snagging an oddly shaped present from the coffee table. 

“That one’s from Asahi and I!” Noya shouts, leaning down from the back of the couch to drop his head near Shouyou’s. Shouyou flinches at the exclamation, startled by the volume, but quickly covers it with a smile. 

He rips the bow off first, slapping it on top of Tobio’s head, who looks at it with crossed eyes before pulling it off and patting it into Shouyou’s hair. “ _Don’t do that, stupid!_ ”

Shouyou laughs gleefully, ignoring the petulant look on Tobio’s face, and tears the wrapping from his gift, revealing a pristine, white volleyball. “Uwoh!!! _Look, dad, it’s a volleyball!_ ” He shoves the ball towards his parents. Bokuto takes it eagerly, but Akaashi gives Shouyou a pointed look until he turns to the men behind him. “Thank you, Asahi and Noya!” 

Nishinoya ruffles Shouyou’s hair affectionately while Asahi signs, “ _Happy birthday, Shouyou._ ”

Shouyou reaches for another gift from the table, but before he can grab one, Tobio lunges and grabs a small, rectangular box that he promptly drops into Shouyou’s lap. “ _Open mine next._ ”

Shouyou opens the box and pulls out a small, braided bracelet. Orange threads are tightly woven around blue ones in an alternating spiral, but despite its hand-made appearance, Akaashi’s doubtful that a 3 year old with Tobio’s impatience would’ve been able to make it so immaculately. 

One skeptical look at Suga confirms his suspicions that Tobio’s input on the present’s creation was more of a spectator role rather than an active participant’s.

Tobio stares into his lap, blushing brightly. “ _It’s our favorite colors._ ”

Shouyou hooks an arm around Tobio’s shoulder and pulls him into a tight hug, giggles bubbling from his mouth when Tobio releases a shocked snort. “Hey! Get off of me, stupid! It’s just a dumb gift,” Tobio cries, speaking out loud because his hands are trapped between him and the other boy. 

It takes Shouyou a moment to respond, but he finally releases Tobio with a large smile. “ _I like it!_ ”

“ _I have one too._ ” Still bright red, Tobio pulls up the bottom of his pants to reveal a similar bracelet looped around his ankle. 

“Gwah! _Cool! Tobio, that’s really cool!_ ” Shouyou grabs his own foot and draws it towards his chest, so he can try and tie it around his ankle. After a couple seconds of fumbling, Akaashi comes to his rescue and tightly knotted the bracelet. “ _Look, Tobio! We match_!”

The red hue on Tobio’s face darkens, and he murmurs a quiet “Shut up,” that Shouyou probably couldn’t hear anyway. 

Shouyou moves on to Kuroo and Kenma’s gifts next, unwrapping a video game from Kenma (“ _Mario Kart!!!!!_ ”) and a soft cat plush from Kuroo. From both of them, Shouyou finds a warm black hoodie with a pair of cat ears on the hood. He puts it on right away, giggling when the too-long sleeves completely hide his hands from sight and slapping Tobio gently with the extra fabric. After an impromptu wrestling match between the two children, Shouyou hops over the coffee table to land between Kuroo and Kenma, giving each of them a short hug that they reciprocate easily. 

“Happy birthday, kiddo.” Kuroo flips the hood so it hangs over Shouyou’s eyes, and the toddler stumbles backwards in bewilderment, tripping over Kenma’s foot and landing in his lap. Kenma chuckles and helps him stand back up before pushing him back towards Akaashi and Bokuto. 

“ _We have one more present for you, squirt!_ ” Bokuto grabs his son enthusiastically, and Shouyou blinks him with wide, surprised eyes. 

With eyebrows furrowed in confusion, he signs,“ _But I already live here. Isn’t that my present_?”

Akaashi freezes, and Bokuto buries his head in the crook of Shouyou’s neck. “You’re so precious!”

Moving so Shouyou can see him, Akaashi tells him, “ _That’s not a gift, baby. You live here because we love you._ ” Shouyou nods, wiggling when Bokuto starts to pepper his face with soft kisses and pushing his father’s face away when they got to be too ticklish. 

“ _Daddy, I’m a big kid now. You can’t do that anymore.”_

As Bokuto despairs over the fact that his ‘cute baby boy is too old for kisses now,’ Daichi leans close to Suga’s ear. “Why isn’t Tobio that cute?”

“Hey! That’s mean, dad!”

Nishinoya laughs so hard that he falls off of the couch, and a horrified Asahi scrambles to help him back up. 

“Oi! Didn’t you want to give the kid another present?” Kuroo asks impatiently. “I’m sure its just begging to be unwrapped,” he adds pointedly, because the poor dog has been quietly waiting in that box for almost three hours. 

“You’re just jealous that you and Kenma don’t have a cute kid of your own!” Bokuto responds from over Shouyou’s head. 

Kenma looks up from his phone. “Believe me when I say that Kuroo’s childishness is enough for me to handle without an actual child added into the mix.”

“Rude!”

The banter turns into unintelligible arguing. Bokuto and Kuroo shout over each other, Kenma keeps sighing loudly, and Noya is practically convulsing from his laughter.

Shouyou squirms out of Bokuto’s grip and runs over to Akaashi. “ _Can I have my present, please?_ ”

Akaashi leads Shouyou away from the chaos in the living room and towards the box in the corner with Tobio trailing behind quietly. Realizing that Shouyou’s tugging absentmindedly on his hearing aids, Akaashi leans down and asks, “ _Do you want me to turn them off?_ ”

Shouyou’s nod is desperate, and Akaashi is tempted to yell at the men in the living room for bombarding his poor child with so much noise. Instead, he flicks a small switch on each of the boxes, and Shouyou instantly relaxes into the quiet. “ _Thank you._ ”

Akaashi smiles, kissing him gently on his forehead before pushing him towards the box. Surprisingly, the dog hasn’t moved from her spot throughout the night. The only movement from her was when everyone was eating, and Akaashi noticed a small black nose starting to poke out from the box. He had given her a dog treat, reiterated his command for her to stay, and watched as she contentedly curled up on top of the blankets covering the bottom of her box. 

Even as Shouyou reaches for the box, there’s not a single noise from inside, and Akaashi is pleasantly surprised by the young dog’s obedience. 

“Wait!” Bokuto yells, scrambling over the back of the couch to be there when Shouyou opens the present. “Wait, I need the video camera! Keiji, where’s the camera?!”

But Shouyou’s already flipping open the cardboard flaps and peering over the edge of the box. The dog’s head pops up, and Shouyou immediately gasps. “Puppy!” In his eagerness to touch her, Shouyou ends up tipping the entire box over, and the puppy tumbles out on top of him. Laughing, he buries his face in her fur and rubs his cheek against her stomach. “Tobio! Puppy!”

Next to him, Tobio starts to pet the dog too, a smile of his own creeping across his face. It’s not long before both children are on the floor with the dog, rolling around and pulling her fur while she patiently lets them tug on her. 

“This is betrayal,” Kuroo mutters from his new position on the couch. “I just wanted Shouyou to know how cool cats are, and then you come and give him a fucking dog. Not cool.”

“Watch your mouth,” Daichi scolds him. “Shouyou might not be able to hear you cuss, but Tobio still can.”

“Dad,” Shouyou says to get Akaashi’s attention, and he looks down to find both his son and Tobio lying across the dog’s back. Shouyou’s eyes are filled with stars, and Akaashi reminds himself to tell Bokuto this was a good idea again, because the best ideas are the ones that make Shouyou happy. “ _What’s the puppy’s name?_ ”

“ _You can name her anything you want._ ”

Shouyou thinks about it for a moment, bottom lip jutted out and hands moving in front of his face as he tests out different words. Finally, he looks back up at Akaashi and shouts, “Crow!”

Akaashi smiles, remembering their conversation when Shouyou had seen the bird on the balcony. Next to him, though, Bokuto is flabbergasted. “But owls are so much cooler, Shouyou!”

Shouyou shakes his head. “ _Her name is Crow,_ ” he signs, and Tobio nods in agreement.

“ _We’re going to need a sign name for that. Are you up for the challenge?_ ” 

Shouyou nods eagerly, already experimenting with his hands.

“This _is_ betrayal.” Bokuto collapses onto the couch next to Kuroo, and his best friend pats him on the shoulder sympathetically.

“Mr. Akaashi, what’s this?” Tobio pulls on the bright orange bandana wrapped around Crow’s next, squinting at the words written across it. Shouyou leans over to look too. 

“ _She’s a service dog. She can help Shouyou with sounds even when he doesn’t have his hearing aids in._ ”

“ _Cool!_ ” Shouyou somehow looks even happier than before, staring at the dog beneath him with a new sense of wonder. Crow cranes her neck to lick his cheek, tail thumping against the floor happily. 

While the kids continue playing with their new friend, Akaashi joins his husband on the couch to watch. Bokuto wraps an arm over his shoulders, pulling him snug against his chest and resting his chin on top of his head. “This was a really good idea, Koutarou.”

There’s a soft chuckle, and soft air blows against Akaashi’s hair gently. “You already said that.”

“I just thought I should say it again.” 

**Author's Note:**

> I LOVE DOGS SO MUCH THEY ARE THE GREATEST
> 
> I'll do an installment with Hinata's experience with hearing aids next I think, and there I'll go a little more into detail about the severity of his deafness (and how he's not technically deaf because he can hear even if it's just a little)
> 
> They do come up with a sign name for Crow, it's a circular motion and you quickly go from a C shape to a W!
> 
> Please feel free to leave a comment below, I love hearing from you guys! Even if it's just to point out a typo, please do!
> 
> Come talk to me on tumblr, too! http://ive-been-losing-sleep.tumblr.com/
> 
> I'm going to be working on an OiHina chapter fic, so the next update for this might be a while, I'm sorry. But if you like OiHina, then hey that works out I guess!


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